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While I’m happy Hillary is supporting the “It Gets Better”campaign, something about this rang a little hollow to me. As a top-level government official, she’s in a fundamentally different position than celebrities or everyday folks who have made similar videos. I, too, have a message: To all of the people in the Obama administration who are aware of the bigotry and hate faced by LGBTQ Americans and the hurt caused by discrimination, PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. You have the power to actually change the policies that alienate queer Americans and relegate them to second-class citizenship.

As one of the other Feministing contributors pointed out, while the Obama administration in general sucks on LGBTQ issues, the State Department under Hillary Clinton has been better than any other federal agency. She has extended domestic partner benefits, simplified and clarified gender changes on passports, and generally rocked the fuck out. (Yes, she even wore purple yesterday in solidarity! Check out this picture of her in the situation room.) Still, I was disappointed by the passivity of her message. I wish she had pledged to push her boss — who has dragged his feet on changing policies while many major gay-rights battles have played out in the courts instead — to increase opportunities for LGBTQ Americans. After all, Hillary has much more political power than most people contributing to this video campaign. While she can claim some successes, there’s still a very long way to go toward ensuring that it does, in fact, get better.

Like millions of Americans, I was terribly saddened to learn of the recent suicides of teenagers across our country after being bullied because they were gay or because people thought they were gay. Children are particularly vulnerable to the hurt caused by discrimination and prejudice, and we’ve lost many young people over the years to suicide. These recent deaths are a reminder that all Americans have to work harder to overcome bigotry and hatred. I have a message for all the young people out there who are being bullied or who feel alone and find it hard to imagine a better future. First of all, hang in there. And ask for help. Your life is so important to your family, your friends, and to your country. There’s so much waiting for you both personally and professionally. There’s so many opportunities for you to develop your talents and make your contributions. And these opportunities will increase because the story of America is the story of people coming together to tear down barriers, stand up for their rights, and insist on equality, not only for themselves but for all people. And in the process they create a community of support and solidarity that endures. Just think of the progress made by women, just during my lifetime. Or ethnic, racial, and religious minorities over the course of our history. And by gays and lesbians, many of whom are now free to live their lives openly and proudly.

Here at the State Department, I’m grateful every day for the work of our LGBT employees who are serving the United States as foreign service officers and civil servants here and around the world. It wasn’t long ago that these men and women would not have been able to serve openly. But today they can, because it has gotten better. And it will get better for you. So take heart and have hope. And please remember that your life is valuable, that you are not alone. Many people are standing with you and sending you their thoughts, their prayers, and their strength. Count me among them. Take care of yourself.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, it will not come as a surprise to you that queer and trans people of color are routinelytargetedbythe police.

We Deserve Better, a new report by BreakOUT! — a badass organization working to end the criminalization of LGBTQ youth in New Orleans — highlights exactly the ways queer and trans youth experience discriminatory policing at the hands of the NOPD. Perhaps most importantly, We Deserve Better also highlights the resiliency of these criminalized communities, and makes common-sense demands to address issues of safety.

With the support of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the queer and trans youth of color ...

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, it will not come as a surprise to you that queer and trans people of color are routinelytargetedby

On Tuesday, the New York Times published a feature on reproductive health advocates moving away from the language of “choice.” An important and interesting topic, the potentially illuminating piece instead served to obscure the history of the move away from choice language, completely erasing women of color’s crucial role in developing the reproductive justice framework that set the stage for this move by the larger and more well-funded (and, ahem, white-lady-led) reproductive health organizations. Since then, women of color in the reproductive justice movement have been hollering a collective WTF.

Future Hall of Fame football coach Tony Dungy said he wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be taken in the NFL draft, because he “wouldn’t want to deal with all of it.” He’d be a distraction, according to Dungy.

I get where he’s coming from. Seriously. What with all the media attention Sam is going to get. All the cameras following him around. Think of how fans of the team would constantly try to get his attention, and fans from opposing teams would hate him, and people who don’t even follow sports would form opinions of him without knowing him. He’ll constantly be doing interviews and commercials and being ...

Future Hall of Fame football coach Tony Dungy said he wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be taken in the NFL draft, because he “wouldn’t ...